Project Management

DIRECT MARKETING RESOURCES

Knowledge management; End-to-end automation of supply chain

The scope of this project was wide:  It involved every department in the company. Knowledge Management techniques were incorporated to re-engineer their costing systems into one of the first fully-integrated Activity Based Costing (ABC) systems. The design of this software also incorporated the principles of JIT and TQM. Data Modes, a leading software integration developer at the time, stated that "the ABC system was 10 years ahead of anything on the market." By using this information system, the company was able to identify services that were under-cost by as much as 800 percent. Based on this data, a complete restructuring of the company's pricing was launched, enabling them to cherry-pick the most profitable market segments. By changing the service and customer mix, profits were substantially increased, and re-work was decreased from 30% to 2%.

Next, an integrated sales, marketing and contact management system was designed. This allowed monitoring of advertising campaign response rates, sales, and marketing contact frequency with both customers and prospects. The system enabled the company to evaluate the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts and forecast sales cycles.

Finally, a online program titled "Buyers Choice" was devised. This project was a direct mail survey that enabled consumers to opt-in and opt-out of direct marketing promotions. According to Sprint, to whom it was also presented, it was the first proposal of a consensual marketing database.

Years: 1991-94 (We were pioneers in early Internet development!)